


In Media Res

by MeinNameIstJette



Category: Final Fantasy XII
Genre: AU, Brotherly Relationship, Divergent Timelines, Gen, Landis, Mysterious Circumstances Due to Magic/Mist, Second Chances, fixing mistakes, redemption arc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:41:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27841666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeinNameIstJette/pseuds/MeinNameIstJette
Summary: Second chances don't occur frequently and especially not after death. However, Noah fon Ronsenburg has been given a special opportunity to right the wrongs that he had committed in his lifetime. Now, he's determined to make sure the least amount of people suffer from his actions.
Relationships: Basch fon Ronsenburg & Fran, Gabranth | Noah fon Ronsenburg & Basch fon Ronsenburg, Gabranth | Noah fon Rosenburg & Fran, Vossler York Azelas & Basch fon Ronsenburg
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6
Collections: Ho Ho Moogle - XII Christmas Exchange





	In Media Res

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Caillieach](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caillieach/gifts).



> Where to even begin. xD
> 
> This is the first installment to a multi-chapter fic that came to me randomly throughout the day when I was thinking about what to write for the Ho Ho Moogle - XII Christmas Exchange. I know that it's only December 2, however, given the fact that I am going to write more, I figured it would be a nice surprise to get random installments throughout the month. That is, if I can keep motivated. >>
> 
> Sorry, **Caillieach**. xD
> 
> I hope you enjoy this and I know it's not quite what you had put in your prompts but this came out of left field and I had to run with it. As you already know, anything I write in regards to Gabranth is inspired by you and your love for him. 
> 
> So, I figured, let's give him a second chance. Let's see what Gabranth can do now that he's self-reflected in death enough to realise that if given the opportunity to do things differently, he would. 
> 
> This has become a bit of a monster in it's planning process so....bare with me. You might be getting chapters throughout the year too. Ahaha. 
> 
> Also thank you **Merlin** for reading this sucker and listening to me rant about the direction of the story. ALSO, thank you for the title suggestion, otherwise this beast would have a lonnnnngggggg title. xD
> 
> It's going to be a wild ride if I keep myself in check and write. B)
> 
> Let the Christmas season begin!

Noah fon Ronsenburg didn’t believe in second chances. At least, he hadn’t believed in them until he realised the irreparable damage his anger had brought to Ivalice and the people around him. An anger that had grown with each passing year over events that neither he nor Basch could have predicted. 

Anger -- a mistress with many forms. An intimate lover, one that Noah could have done without, one that he had witnessed seduce many others as lives upon lives were ruined. 

Noah had basked in that feeling and the realisation that the hand of justice would come down upon his brother. The very man who had abandoned him and his sick mother during a war. And yet, those two years of seeing Basch waste away in Nalbina, had made him feel worse. It had eroded anger’s hold on him and made him feel sick. 

The last stake driven right into his heart had been realising that his one redemption, that Princess Ashe’s anger, would have legitimized his actions. Except, she did not act on it. Instead of letting it control her, she had managed to let it go, taking the higher road, the more honourable road. 

It was on top of the Pharos that Noah had witnessed this, had realised that there had always been another way, and yet he had willingly blinded himself. 

He remembers blue eyes. 

He remembers the desperation that had been clawing at him. The scream trapped not only in his armour but in his throat. 

It had also been the day that Noah fon Ronsenburg had died. There had been no reclaiming that name. He had truly become the dog of the Empire, Judge Magister Gabranth, the hand of _injustice_. 

Gabranth knew not of justice otherwise his future would have been far different. Death had been the only redeeming thing he had done in his life.

And yet, Noah had pictured death to be far different than _this_!

He wasn’t sure what he was experiencing only that he was cognizant of his continued existence even though he couldn’t physically feel anything around him.

Days could have passed, months, or even years. It was impossible to tell time, clearly to be expected in death. It had always been an abstract concept with no clear understanding of what occurred when one did pass. Each race on Ivalice had its own interpretation and the only thing that could be agreed upon was that a person’s existence continued. 

Noah now knew this to be true. However, it was not pleasant when all you had to do was scrutinize every single action you had ever done while you were alive. 

It was torture but a well deserved torture especially after what he had put Basch through….

What he had done to his own family….

Noah knows what he has done. He had known it when alive and it should be easy to verbalize, well, manifest through thought because Noah isn’t so sure that he can speak in death. He hasn’t heard a noise since he arrived and he doesn’t expect to hear anything going forward. 

Family…

It was in these moments that Noah wished for a second chance, for the ability to do things over again, to make amends for what he had done in his past timeline. To mend things with Basch and to reclaim his name as his brother had commented to him far too late for it to make a difference. 

Hurt. 

Noah’s heart hurts and this is the first time he _feels_ anything. A shocking moment that would have had him staggering back if he had a physical form and yet….he felt it clear as day. 

An ache in his heart. 

Noah isn’t sure what happens next but the unbearable silence that he had gotten used to aside from his thoughts is broken. He can hear murmuring muffled by what can only be a door. He can hear the creak of something above him and he can feel warmth from a blanket pulled up nearly to his chin.

It’s clear he has a body. He can feel his arms, legs, toes, and even fingers. He can feel more than just the warmth of the blanket but the weight of it as well. Then there was the reminder of the softness of his mattress and the pleasant scent of wood. The window to the back of him, even with the curtains drawn, let in enough of the moon light so that Noah is able to identify a crack in the flooring that he and Basch had accidentally made when they’d been sparring with the wooden training blades their father had fastened for them.

It’s after noticing all these other details that Noah can distinctly feel a wetness. A foreign feeling after so long and yet, as he pulls his hand up to touch his face, he realises it’s coming from him. He’s sniffling and the creak from above him becomes more pronounced as what must be a body shifting. 

“Noah?” A familiar voice inquires over the edge of….the top bunk of his childhood bunk bed.

_**Basch?!** _

“Are you okay, Noah?” 

It was Basch. 

“Basch?” Noah croaks out and his voice is not his own but at the same time it is. It’s a voice he hasn’t heard in ages, the voice of a younger Noah, the same Noah he had allowed his anger to forget, warp even. 

Lost in thought he doesn’t hear Basch flip over the wooden side guard of the bed to land right in front of him. The only thing Noah is preoccupied with are the tears that keep streaming down his face and that he just can’t stop. A body slips under the cover and into bed with him and then he’s being tugged against a lithe figure.

Basch. 

The distinct scent of home overwhelms his senses and he can feel his body shake as more tears spill from his eyes. He reaches for Basch, arms wrapping tightly around his twin brother and he presses his face against his chest, holding him, not wanting to let go. 

Noah can remember the countless nights he and Basch had huddled in one bed together talking late into the night. He can also remember how cold his bed had felt when he had been forced to take his mother to Archadia and Basch had refused to come, leaving the both of them for Dalmasca. 

Hazel eyes squeeze shut as he inhales deeply and shakily. 

“That must have been a pretty bad nightmare.” Basch murmurs as he holds Noah close and gently pets his hair. “Want to talk about it?” 

Noah doesn’t trust his voice and instead he just shakes his head against Basch’s chest. 

If this wasn’t some cruel torture from the afterlife then Noah could make things right. He could erase all the wrongs he had committed and prevent the hurt that both he and Basch had endured for the better part of their lives. 

He knows now that it had been the war. The war had torn them apart and the war had promoted Noah’s plummet into pure anger and despair. He sees now that he had not done anything for himself except feed that anger. Princess Ashe had surrounded herself with a group of people who supported her, who helped guide her down the right path, Noah hadn’t done nor had that. He had been thrown into the middle of a toxic society with the sole goal of subjugating anyone they deemed foreign or weak. 

And so Noah had become strong, fortified himself, and never addressed his problems so that he could never be perceived as anything but strong. He wants to laugh at how foolish he had been because he had been the weakest of them all. True strength did not lie in one's ability to push their pain away, it came from acknowledging it, treating it, and then growing from it. 

A lesson he had indirectly learned from Basch as well. A small part of Noah wishes he could tell the Basch of his time this….but he would settle for making sure the Basch he was currently pressed up against would never have to experience the same fate as the other.

“I’m sorry.” Noah manages to get out, voice muffled and meek. If he had not been pressing his face so tightly against Basch’s chest, he knows he would have seen the expression of confusion on his twin brother’s face. 

“For what? You’re allowed to have nightmares, Noah. We’re all hume after all.” Basch replies just as quietly. 

If this really was a second chance, he would not waste it. 

“Thank you.” His voice is just as muffled but he doesn’t care. The thank you wasn’t necessarily for Basch but for whatever powers out there that had granted him this opportunity. 

One thing Noah knows he won’t take for granted, is falling asleep in the comforting embrace of his twin brother. It was a sleep that Noah swears he had not experienced in his 18 years in Archadia and it would be one that he treasures greatly.

Going forward, Noah would be the master of his own fate.


End file.
